Mission Impossible 4 to start filming in December

September 16, 2010 - By Liam Goodwin

Production Weekly has tweeted that “principal photography on “Aries” (aka “Mission: Impossible 4”) is scheduled to begin on December 6 and continue through March 7, 2011.” Aries is probably just the working title, but Paramount won’t be using Mission: Impossible 4 so we could see a name like that as the official title.

The cast confirmed so far includes Tom Cruise who will once again play agent Ethan Hunt, but this time he is joined by another agent in the form of Jeremy Renner. Paula Patton will play an operative who works with them, as do Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg who are back in their roles.

IGN recently caught up with Renner while the actor was promoting The Town and he addressed the recent talk of him taking over the franchise in future sequels:

“First I have to focus on the task at hand, which is making Mission: Impossible IV,” he continued. “So I’ll focus on Hawkeye when it comes. I know I have to learn how to be an archer, and I’m looking forward to giving that a go.”

On the M:I 4 front, Renner revealed, “There is talk of me taking over the franchise, but I don’t know what the whole truth to that is — maybe that idea does exist. This time I play an operative and Tom is in it. We are on the same team and we are good guys.”

Filming will take place in Vancouver, Prague, Dubai and the U.S. under the direction of Brad Bird (Ratatouille). Paramount has set a December 2011 release date, which mean it will be the first time a Mission Impossible film has been released outside of the summer movie season.